Chapter One Hundred and Forty Three - 143"They are Guilders," Harn confirmed, his hand shielding against the bright midday sun. Felix knew it wasn't a real sun, but it was just as hot and bright. "Musta been their path we've been followin'."
"That means they came in the same entrance though," Evie said, her voice sharp and hissing. "Did the redcloaks let them in? Are they part of the plan?"
"That...doesn't make sense," Felix said with a frown. "Why involve the Guild, the only people capable of stopping the Inquisition?"
"Maybe they've been in here longer than the redcloaks were out there?" Evie suggested.
"Say that is true," Vess jumped in. "Then the Guild also came into this Domain, using a secret back entrance instead of the normal one. Why?"
"Good question," Felix said. "And I think we need to talk to Zara about what the word 'secret' means. I'm not sure she knows."
Vess smiled and Evie rolled her eyes. Harn grunted, though Felix was willing to believe that was his version of laughing. Felix checked the wardstone at his belt, bringing up the item's description.
Name: Ward of the Willful Eye
Type: Wardstone (enchanted)
Lore: Designed to withstand harmful environmental effects such as caustic or dissonant elements for a maximum period of six hours.
Shell of Harmonius Will VII - A Song of protection that diverts dissonant environmental hazards. Has no effect on direct attacks.
Chanters Intent II - The Harmonic Song of a Chanter was used to enchant this item, and it bears their Intent. +20% Effectiveness of Shell.
Time Remaining: 4 Hours 52 Minutes
They'd bonded the stones shortly after entering the Domain, and the clock on them had started ticking down. But it was ticking down a bit faster than anticipated, as they had spent perhaps forty minutes moving from the entrance to their current location, and had lost over an hour of duration.
"Listen, I don't trust what's happening here any more than the rest of you," Felix said, and gestured to the wardstones they all wore. "We've got less than five hours...glasses, sorry, five glasses until the protection on these wardstones fail. Maybe the Guilders are trustworthy, but likely they're not. Either way, we need to see what's in that keep and kill whatever monsters we can't avoid. This'll get two birds with one stone."
Harn nodded. "Agreed. We'll move closer, observe."
"Take em both out if we can," Evie said, a sharp look in her eye. Vess clucked her tongue and nudged her friend with her elbow. "...Or help, or whatever."
Vess' smile was thin lipped and troubled. It was clear to Felix that she did not like the idea of harming Guilders. Felix didn't either, if he were being honest with himself, but he'd do what he had to do. Something terrible was happening in the Domain, something he could feel would have crawled into their skin if not for their wardstones.
"Wait," Vess said, crawling closer to the ledge and peering outward. "Look, by the far forest."
A dark smear moved in the distance, and at first Felix though it was some sort of odd river; then his eyes adjusted and he could make out the approach of nearly a hundred loping humanoids. Their flesh was mottled with rust red and pale yellow, their arms long and tipped with overlarge claws. Stranger still, each of the figures carried something on its back and it varied from the corpses of other monsters to piles of dirt and leafy plants. At the same time as he saw them, a rattling dissonance drift to him on the breeze, setting his teeth on edge.
"Are they carrying bodies?" Vess asked.
"Food for later?" Evie asked and Harn shook his head.
"Better hope not," Harn said. "That'd mean they're smart. Gimme a beast horde over a half dozen smart monsters."
Voracious Eye!
Name: Manawarped Revenant
Type: Primordial-Spawn
Level: 38
HP: 534/534
SP: 1003/1120
MP: 255/255
Lore: Corrupted by the Maw's vile blood, these humanoids were once Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Hobgoblins, among others. Their form has been infected and altered, instilling them with a deep and unending hunger.
Strength: Enhanced coordination as a group
Weakness: Poor Intelligence and Willpower
"Shit," Felix said and shared the information with his crew, flipping his Voracious Eye screen toward all of them.
"Noctis wept," Vess gasped, holding her hands over her mouth. "The prisoners..."
"Ain't the prisoners," spat Harn. "They were just thrown in, and I've seen enough bones to know they died quick-like. This is somethin' else."
"What's the Maw?" Evie asked, and Felix very nearly bit his tongue off in surprised anger. Stupid mistake. He should have just read it aloud.
"It's...not important," Felix extemporized, and even he knew that answer wasn't going to fly. So it was to his great relief that an explosion of fire bloomed above the ruined keep. Everyone's eyes snapped forward, and the wind carried the sounds of screaming and discharging Mana Skills. Several figure scurried atop a wall, fighting off waves of Spawn and a few other varieties.
"Ain't gonna last much longer," Evie said, pointing at the line of running Revenants. "Those're headed straight for em."
Another, smaller explosion hit one of the rounded towers, and silhouetted against the flames was a familiar figure. Felix squinted, able to just barely make out finer details. A man in red robes with a curled mop of blond hair flung bolts of fire out into the monster horde.
"Is that...Atar?"
Fields of Flame!
A torrent of fire burst from Atar's outspread palms, catching alight the disgusting Spawn before him. Six of them charred instantly, burned up by the powerful fire, while five more reared back in pain and fear. It was what he loved most of all about fire: it was effective.
Atar had grown immensely since the Foglands. His spells had improved by leaps and bounds, but so had his Endurance, Strength, and Vitality. He was proud to say that he was level 32 and closing in on 33. The Apprentice Formation his mentor had helped him achieve was responsible for much of his growth.
Body:
Flameborn Mind:
Scriven Crown Spirit:
Vast Ignition His Body allowed him a near immunity to mundane fire, though magical fire was another thing entirely, save for his own flames. It also allowed him to utilize Strength Ignition to greater effect, especially after the Guild had accelerated the physical training regiment begun under Magda and Harn. He was, at this point in his advancement, at least the equal to an extremely fit Human in his prime. An Untempered Human of course, but that was...fine, he supposed.
Though his Body seemed lackluster, that was to be expected; it was Tempered with a Common ranked Essence Draught. It was his Mind and Spirit that were more impressive, and of greater concern to the magically leaning Atar. His Mind focused on his scriptwork and his authority over his own thoughts and mental processes. Since Tempering, Atar had found cognition, memory, and retention of knowledge to be far simpler. Still requiring effort, but like night and day compared to before.
His Spirit focused once more upon his chosen element: Fire. It boosted his abilities that utilized that element of course, which most of Atar's Skills did in some way. It also aided in Mana regeneration, enough that Atar was no longer constantly beseiged by Mana depletion headaches. A handy feature, as they had been fighting non-stop since their arrived in the Domain.